Social equality must be the result of 'natural affinities, a mutual appreciation of each other's merits and a voluntary consent of individuals...'
Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1986. It stated that racial segregation laws for public facilities were constitutional as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality. This court decision created the 'separate but equal' doctrine.
According to Justice Brown, the segregation laws did not make any race inferior to another. Racial prejudice could not be overcome by legislation but by the three factors stated above.